Why New York Jets-Baltimore Ravens Could Be the New Steelers-Ravens

Hard-hitting defenses. Solid run game. Young quarterbacks. Fiery head coaches.

All four of the above statements is what makes up the AFC North rivalry of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.

But, with the Ravens and Jets overtaking Pittsburgh's defense in the rankings and the four game suspension of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger it seems as though the two Baltimore/Pittsburgh matchups may disappoint this season.

That's where former Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan comes in to the picture. Rex, son of legendary coach Buddy Ryan (creator of the 46 Bear defense), was hired as the New York Jets head coach last season after working for Baltimore from 1999-2008.

In his first season as a head coach, Ryan's Jets, led by rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, went 9-7 in the regular season and fell just short of the Super Bowl after falling to the Colts in the AFC Championship game.

New York had the top overall defense in the league, and the best team against the pass as well thanks to shutdown corner Darrelle Revis.

Baltimore had the third best defense in the league, and eighth-best against the pass

New York has finally gotten Revis back in practice, although we could see Baltimore's secondary take a step back with anchorman Ed Reed out at least six weeks. At this point, injuries to Reed, Domonique Foxworth (out for season), and rookie linebacker Sergio Kindle (likely out for season) will be the only thing holding Baltimore's defense back.

But, with veteran future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, and nose tackle Haloti Ngata leading the way up front, don't be surprised if Baltimore still finishes in the top five or 10 in overall defense in 2010.

On the offensive side of the ball, both teams' run games were tops in the league last season as well. New York, thanks to now-Chief Thomas Jones and then-rookie Shonn Greene, finished the season with the best running game, averaging 4.5 yards a carry on 607 attempts. Baltimore finished at five with an average of 4.7 yards a carry on 468 carries.

Baltimore thrived a tad more than New York in the red zone, tying the league-lead with 22 rushing touchdowns. New York was one behind at 21.

At the quarterback position we have a pair of game managers. The second-year pro Sanchez being more so than Flacco, but still, with Ray Rice in the backfield it's likely Baltimore will be handing the ball off quite a bit. In New York, Sanchez will still be on a leash this season and offensive coordinator Schottenheimer will be calling plenty of run plays for Greene and LT.

Where has Pittsburgh been in all this? Well, the defense should bounce back this season with a resurgent Troy Polamalu in the secondary. But who knows what will happen on offense with the absence of Roethlisberger for four games, the loss of Santonio Holmes and Willie Parker, and the questions surrounding the newfound workload of third-year back Rashard Mendenhall.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Steelers-Ravens games will be good football, but this week's Monday night heavyweight matchup between the Ravens and Jets is sure to be a great one. Most likely the game of the week, considering the Vikings-Saints game wasn't quite as expected.

It's just too bad these two teams will only be battling it out once this season. Unless, of course, they meet again in the postseason, which is never out of the question.